Renewable Fuel Volumes Disappoint

by Jane Fyksen (AgriView) ... But the proposed increases fall short of National Corn Growers Association expectations. Chip Bowling, National Corn Grower president and Maryland farmer, said while the EPA has moved in a better direction, the organization is disappointed the proposed ethanol number is set below statue.

“The Renewable Fuel Standard is working for America,” he said. “It has made our air cleaner. It has spurred investment in rural communities and created high-tech jobs. It has given drivers more choices at the gas pump. And it has reduced our dependency on foreign oil.”

He said any reduction in the statutory amount takes the United States backward. Corn Growers is calling on the EPA to follow the law and raise the ethanol volume to statute. Bowling said in the past the agency has cited lack of fuel infrastructure as one reason for failing to follow statute. But the Corn Growers and the ethanol industry have responded by investing millions of dollars along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership. The money has been used to accelerate public and private investment in new ethanol pumps and fuel infrastructure, so drivers have greater access to renewable fuel choices.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol-industry trade association, the EPA’s draft 2017 Renewable Fuels Standard rule relies on illegal interpretation of its waiver authority. The association has consistently called on the EPA to follow Congressional intent by increasing blending targets – and is currently involved in litigation on the final 2014–2016 targets.

“The agency continues to cater to the oil industry by relying upon an illegal interpretation of its waiver authority and concern over a blend wall that the oil industry itself is creating,” said Bob Dinneen, association president and chief executive officer. “As a consequence, consumers are being denied higher-octane, lower-cost renewable fuels. Investments in new technology and advanced biofuels will continue to languish and greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles will be unnecessarily higher.”

Dinneen said he is frustrated the agency seems to be artificially constraining the biofuels market, instead of achieving the 15-billion-gallon statutory volume for conventional biofuels in 2017.

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat, said while the EPA’s higher targets move in the right direction, the numbers don’t reflect the potential that exists for biofuels use and production in the United States. READ MORE